Get a bird's-eye view of Pluto's landscape

Even when Pluto is closest to Earth in their respective orbits, there's still 2.66 billion miles between them — which means a trip to Pluto simply isn't in the cards for most of us.

Good thing you can take a simulated flyover of the dwarf planet with the video above.

Compiled using photographs from the New Horizons spacecraft, the video starts near the nitrogen ice plains named Sputnik Planitia. Along this western edge, the rocky and cratered terrain of the Cthulhu Macula is visible. From there, the flight swings north over the highlands of the Voyager Terra and then south to the Pioneer Terra and its deep, deep pits. The tour concludes over Tartarus Dorsa, a range of bizarrely textured mountains.

To make sure you get the full effect, NASA has exaggerated the landscape by a factor of two or three and enhanced the surface's colors to bring out the details. It's worth that little bit of tweaking, though, if only to get an idea of what it would be like to soar above this tiny and beloved dwarf planet.